Re: [gnome-desktop-testing] Missing path when running ./bin/desktop-testing

[markus korn <thekorn gmx de>]

Hi,
sorry, I did not know about this list so far, so I'm a bit late on
replying to the questions about buildout.

* why buildout?
There are basically two solutions to run a python library/a python
application in an isolated environment or in development mode,
virtualenv and buildout. Both solutions have their pros and cons, but
in my opinion the biggest advantage of buildout is that is more than a
development environment and you can put all necessary files under VC
in the project itself. As Javier said `buildout.cfg` and
`bootstrap.py` are the only additional files which have to be added.
In addition to the development environment you can use a configuration
of buildout to:
    *  find and run tests, for example by using the nosetest framework
    * automatically create documentation and API docs by using sphinx

* what changes are necessary?
As mentioned earlier we have to add `buildout.cfg` and `bootstrap.py`.
Also we have to configure VC to ignore the files and directories
created by buildout. If we would like to have the testrunner tool in
buildout-bin we should also split the main function out of
bin/*-desktop-test so that we can define an entry point for this
function. buildout does not necessarily depend on setuptools, it is
fine to use distutils, because buildout does not create .eggs. When
you decide to switch over to buildout, you should think about changing
the structure a bit, like:
    desktoptesting/
        src/
            testsuites/
                gedit/*
                seahorse/*
                [put testsuites for other apps here]
            bin/
                [cmd-line tool to run testcases]
            desktoptesting/
                utils/
                    utils.py
                    check.py
                ldtp_abstraction/
                    gnome/
                        [abstraction for each application]
                    ubuntu/
                        [abstraction for ubuntu related apps]
                testing_framework/
                    [modules containing TestRunner/TestSuite etc.
                     which are now in bin/]
            tests/
                [tests for desktoptesting]
            docs/
                [.rst files describing desktoptesting]
        debian/*
        _bootstrap/
            bootstrap.py
            COPYRIGHT
        bootstrap.py -> _bootstrap/bootstrap.py
        setup.py
        buildout.cfg
        README
        HACKING
        COPYRIGHT
        TODO
(this is not necessary at the first place and should possibly be a
topic for a different discussion)

I hope this answers you questions,
Markus